Europeans, on their arrival in the West, saw the buffalo as dull, sulky, and of no benefit except to the Indians. Early governments believed the huge, free-ranging herds were an impediment to enforcement of newly signed treaties. Enterprising pioneers recognized buffalo hunts as first-class sporting events, sure to appeal to wealthy and upper-class Britishers and others overseas.

It was only when a remnant of this part of North America's natural history remained that the significance of the destruction became clear. In Buffalo: Sacred and Sacrificed, popular historian Grant MacEwan captures the efforts of early conservationists James McKay, Charles Alloway, Sam Bedson, Frank Oliver, and Michel Pablo to preserve and protect this monarch of the plains. It is a remarkable account of where the buffalo once roamed-and of their amazing step back from the brink of extinction.

Grant MacEwan was a farmer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dean of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, the 28th Mayor of Calgary and both a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. The neighbourhoods of MacEwan in Calgary and Edmonton are named for him, as is the Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton and the MacEwan Student Centre at the University of Calgary. The majority of his books, of which there are many, were written after his retirement from politics and were intended to share Canadian history with Canadians. On May 6, 2000, MacEwan was honoured with the Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award for lifetime literary achievements by the Writers Guild of Alberta, which had previously only been awarded to W.O. Mitchell. He died a month later in Calgary, at the ripe old age of 97, and was given a state funeral, the first one in Alberta since 1963.

Grant MacEwan's profile page